Runa Capital closes Fund III at $157M, with an added focus on quantum computing

VC fund Runa Capital was launched with $135 million in 2010, and is perhaps best known for its investment into NGINX, which powers many web sites today. In more recent years it has participated or led investments into startups such as Zipdrug ($10.8 million); Rollbar this year ($11 million); and Monedo (for 20 million).

HQ'd in San Francisco, it has now completed the final closing on its $157 million Runa Capital Fund III, which, they say, exceeded its original target of $135 million.

The firm typically invests between $1 million and $10 million in early-stage companies, predominantly Series A rounds, and has a strong interest in cloud infrastructure, open-source software, AI and machine intelligence and B2B SaaS, in markets such as finance, education and healthcare.

Dmitry Chikhachev, co-founder and managing partner of Runa Capital, said in a statement: We are excited to see many of our portfolio companies' founders investing in Runa Capital III, along with tech-savvy LPs from all parts of the world, who supported us in all of our funds from day one... We invested in deep tech long before it became the mainstream for venture capital, betting on Nginx in 2011, Wallarm and ID Quantique in 2013, and MariaDB in 2014."

Going forward the firm says it aims to concentrate much of its firepower in the realm of machine learning and quantum computing.

In addition, Jinal Jhaveri, ex-CEO & founder of SchoolMint, a former portfolio company of Runa Capital which was acquired by Hero K12, has joined the firm as a venture partner.

Runa operates out of its HQ in Palo Alto to its offices throughout Europe. Its newest office opened in Berlin in early 2020, given Runa Capital's growing German portfolio. German investments have included Berlin-based Smava and Mambu, as well as the recently added Monedo (formerly Kreditech), Vehiculum and N8N (a co-investment with Sequoia Capital). Other investments made from the third fund include Rollbar, Reelgood, Forest Admin, Uploadcare and Oxygen.

N8N and three other startups were funded through Runa Capital's recently established seed program that focuses on smaller investments up to $100,000.